Rivers Hayle and Plym

The weather remains dire and yet again my birdwatching plans for Friday 28th and Saturday 29th of February were scuppered due to some more shite conditions forecasted. However after some heavy overnight rain Thursday 27th February was looking good and so despite feeling absolutely knackered after working 2 long days and then a night shift I decided to head to Hayle on the train for a look at gulls.

I have wanted to visit Hayle properly ever since I bought my telescope last December in order to scan through the roosting gulls at low tide but other than a quick look at the estuary back in January on my journey home from Penzance I haven't managed to get down there for a good look around. And with an over wintering adult ring-billed gull and multiple Caspian gull and yellow-legged gull reports I have been really keen to have a look for these 3 species.

I caught the first timetabled train after 9am in order to save half the ticket cost (£11.40 instead of £22.80!) and also to have a little bit of a lie in and I arrived uneventfully in Hayle at around 11am to sunny skies but with a cold and brisk wind.

I began my walk at the Carnsew Pool along a very boggy and muddy footpath but I did see a little grebe in the harbour and 2 on the pool along with an adult Mediterranean gull moulting into summer plumage, a very smart looking Greenshank and a redhead Goosander asleep on the mudflats.

Greenshank, Hayle Estuary

Greenshank

Greenshank

Greenshank

Ryan's Field was very quiet with 3 Snipe asleep in the reeds the only birds of note and from the causeway a few bar-tailed godwit were feeding out on the estuary with curlew, redshank, oystercatcher and 4 grey plover. Teal, Wigeon and Shelduck were noted along with a male Goosander asleep on the mudflats and I had a brief fly past view of my first kingfisher of the year.

Buzzard, Lelant

Numbers of gulls roosting on the estuary were noticeably lower than usual and most were on the other side of the estuary between Lelant and Lelant Saltings train stations and so I walked around the estuary to get a slightly closer look at them, starting at the station at Lelant. I scanned through the gulls but couldn't find anything unusual amongst them and the same was true at Lelant Saltings Station, it seems I am too late to the party as a lot of the gulls seem to have moved on already although Caspian gulls and yellow-legged gulls were reported by other birders present.

It was enjoyable though to scan through the gulls with my telescope despite the birds being distant, the bright light harsh and heat hazy and the breeze keeping the gulls mostly hunkered down and asleep. I did however manage to find another 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls along with a 1st summer bird amongst the Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Common and Great Black-backed Gulls present but there was to be no rare gulls for me today (although typically all 3 gull species were reported on the internet as present on the estuary that day!).

Saturday 29th February was windy again with squally hail showers but I decided to have a walk along the River Plym anyway. I caught the bus to Marsh Mills and walked along the Plym and around Saltram before returning to Marsh Mills for the bus journey home and it wasn't too busy with people in the breezy conditions.

On Blaxton Meadow there were 36 Curlew and 34 Shelduck roosting on the high tide along with 4 Little Egret and a mixed flock of gulls containing a noticeable increase in adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Common Gulls.

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Blaxton Meadow

On the river a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank were seen along with Redshank, Dunlin and Oystercatcher and with the Mallards were 3 male and 4 female Goosanders and 2 male and 3 female Red-breasted Mergansers.

 Goosanders, River Plym

Red-breasted Merganser, River Plym

A Stock Dove and 2 Jay were seen in the woods along with a noisy Ring-necked Parakeet and Blue, Great and Coal Tits coming down to feed on seed put out on the wall by the hide.

 Great Tit, Saltram

Coal Tit, Saltram

I was very pleased to find 2 Jack Snipe which flew up silently and settled again quickly nearby while Skylarks were heard singing overhead and 12 Roe Deer were seen grazing on the nearby grassy slopes.

A Grey Squirrel was chewing the bark off a tree and snowdrops, daffodils and primrose were all in flower too, Spring is on the way.

 Grey Squirrel, Saltram

Primrose, Saltram